MirrorederroriM- a Kagamine story
by OnceUponMyTime
Summary: There was something strange in her reflection in the face mirror- she saw her eyes blink. Those eyes- they were not hers. They were Len's. Gradually, Rin will learn that a whole new universe exists right next door, only that everything is completely a mirrored story. How did such phenomenon come about? Why was Len on the other side of the mirror? Are they somehow related?
1. Prologue

She dipped her feet into the water, humming a tune to herself. Her mind spinning with figments of her imagination. She was writing for a story-writing competition.

The water shivered as she dangled her legs. She had about a week to write her fictional story, but she had not thought of anything to write about. Should she write about spirits from the dead avenging on their living enemies? Or could she, perhaps, write about a sad, sorrowful, invisible phantom girl who moans every time a full moon emerges? Or a little kid who could travel out into space and dance with the stars that died so many centuries ago? Maybe she could try to write about a love story, but that was too cliché.

She continued to ponder as she stared into her reflection in the pool. She could write about an unknown monster that drags swimmers down into a secret underwater world and keep them there forever, allowing them to breathe underwater. Or... Or...

Her face twisted into a half-frown, then laughed at her reflection as it gives her back a distorted version of it. She grinned at herself just to see her reflection grin a sillier an bigger one. Maybe she could write something about reflections, and how people do exist on the other side of a mirror.

That sounded like a good plot.

She realized she was still sitting at the edge of the pool. She rose and poised to dive into it. Water gushed past her as she made the plunge. She then resurfaced and treaded water to get accustomed to the temperature of the cold water.

She could really write a good story on how there are people who live on the other side if a mirror. They could live in another whole new world parallel to theirs.

She took a breathe and paddled with much strength, doing the free stroke. Within a minute, she was halfway across the pool. As swimming came as a second nature to her, she allowed her mind to think about the ideology of a parallel universe. Maybe the people living on the other side were too shy to identify themselves to their mirrored selves, so they would copy their movements when they meet no matter how weird it could get. Away from the mirror, they continued with their own lives; with their own friends and family.

That sounded cool. Really cool.

She did a cartwheel underwater as she reached the other end of the pool and continued with the same rhythm, her heart pounding in excitement. Probably, if she stood in front of a mirror next time, she could try to speak to it and see if her other side responded. They could share about their lives with each other to see what they had in common. They could share secret smiles as they walk past any other mirror to say 'hi'. They could help each other out or be a lending ear. They could be each other's secret friend living on the other side of the mirror.

It would be final fantasy if such phenomenon existed.

If she could write this out in such a convincing way that it would amaze the judges of the story-writing competition, she might win.

The idea was so believable to her that she was sure she could write it with all her heart and soul in it.

Though she entered the pool only twenty minutes ago, she got out of the pool again to change for she wanted to get started on her story while the idea was fresh and new in her head.

However, when she approached the lockers provided for swimmers to keep their valuables, she could not find her locker; although they key to it was in the pocket of her swim suit. Puzzled, she went to the service counter to ask for help. As she walked towards the counter, she stopped in her tracks. She eyed the lady behind the counter. Was she not the guy with the same hairdo and scar on the cheek whom she saw every time she came down for a swim?

The lady blinked at her when she asked where locker number '0153' was.

"I don't believe that we have such a locker number combination..." the lady drawled with minor suspicion. "Neither do I recall passing that key to you."

"But I got the keys from a guy just twenty-plus minutes ago. Where is he?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I think you got it all wrong; there is no guy working here today. I was here all along, and I have never seen anyone like you entering the swimming complex before," the lady replied. "And we don't use keys for our lockers, we use key codes."

The lady unlocked the gates and they swung open right in front of the girl. She gestured for her to go through them.

"I don't know how you managed to get in without paying the entrance fee, neither do I know how you managed not to get caught. Please leave before I call the police."

"But all of my stuff is in that locker!"

"We _don't _have such a locker! Please leave now."

Dumbfounded, the girl looked around her in helpless despair.

"Hurry up girl!"

Before she could protest, two lifeguards carried her up by the arms and carried her over through the gates. The lady then immediately shut the gates. They clanged loudly in her ears as they sealed her away from the pool.

Beads of perspiration began to break out in panic. She was only in her swim suit and goggles with a key labelled '1053: NewsKing Swimming Complex'. Her feet began to go numb. What was going on?

Forcefully, she tilted her head to look at the familiar clock. It was reversed; it started with '12' at the top but '11' appeared on its right instead of its left. Her eyes widened in uncontrollable fear and confusion. She forced her legs to move and walked the short distance home. She did not take note of the time. but an evening breeze made her shudder as she left the building. She would quickly go home and take a long, long hot bath. After that, she would change into her coziest pajamas and have an early night. Never mind the story; she was not in the right state of mind to write anything.

She walked up the slope that would end at her house; a two-story bungalow with a mini backyard with chalk scrawled all over the floor her sister would have drawn on. Instead, she saw a clear field full of daisies and buttercups when she was at the end of the slope.

She blinked and kept on blinking. Where was her home? She had walked the same way to and back. Her hands began to quiver and go clammy. She dragged her shaking feet towards the tidy field. They made contact with mowed grass. She outstretched her hands and fumbled aimlessly about, trying to grasp something which was not there. She just grabbed empty air.

Her house was missing, gone. But her neighbours were still around. She flew towards the one nearest to her and battered on the door.

"Coming, coming!" came a scratchy voice from inside.

She kept hitting the door until it swung open. It swung open the wrong way. She nearly toppled forwards. She straightened herself in a haste and took a good look at her neighbor. He looked like Mrs. Ann, the familar ringlets of golden-dyed hair, the flawless facial features, the slightly-tanned skin, but she was a man instead. This man was nothing like Mrs. Ann's husband.

The now-deranged girl lost her tongue. She could only ogle with utter disbelief.

"What is it?" snapped the guy-version of Mrs. Ann.

This person was not nice as the actual Mrs. Ann. Or polite. Or courteous. He sounded strange, like a auto-tuned version of Mrs. Ann's voice.

"I... I..."

Then she heard footsteps.

"Who is it outside" she heard a sickly sweet and high voice that sounded Mr. Leon's.

Her face turned into a white sheet when she saw the splitting image of him, only with makeup, a dress, and breasts. She puked onto their carpet with '!emocleW' inscribed on it.

The man cursed. She could not hear properly anymore. Or see properly- black holes began to cloud her vision. Wild thoughts raced through her mind. Why did everything seem to be... To be...

Reversed?

* * *

She heard the same man's voice again. It got clearer as she regained consciousness. She found herself lying down on a straight table covered with a rug. She was still in her swimming attire. She felt the key in her pocket. Looking around her, she figured out she was in some sort of office.

"Then she fainted on out doorstep! So we decided to bring her here; we don't even know this girl or why she even came knocking on our door," the man ranted on.

"Okay, sir, thank you," she heard a sharp and demanding voice with authority.

The man shuffled out of the office. The younger man who dismissed the male version of Mrs. Ann turned to face her. He was wearing a police's uniform, no doubt about that.

Her stomach turned upside down.

He took a chair and sat opposite her, holding a notebook and pen. He began to ask her questions. Where did she live? What was her name? What was she doing at the Ann's house?

"I-I'm Merli. Aoki Merli. I live right nest to their house with my mom and dad and younger sister."

"What is the address?"

She told him. His eyebrows furrowed.

"It exists," she told him.

"No, apparently not," he responded.

He continued to ask her more questions, but gave up after a while. None of her answers made any sense.

"Hey, listen to me!" she screamed at the police officer. "I'm lost, and I want to go back to my family!"

To her astonishment, he ignored her and made a phone call to a girl's rehab.

It was four hours after she entered the swimming pool. She found herself in a room full of bunk beds with many other girls she did not know. She was wearing the same clothes as everybody else. Unlike them, she had nothing else on her except for her swim suit which was taken away to be washed and the key which she kept in her pocket. A lady came to pick her up in a black car and here she was. Her hair was wet, not from swimming, but from a cold shower she had to take standing up in a showering stall.

She sensed the girls staring at her, as though she was some weird object that was not meant to be there. She was not, definitely, but she had no clue what to do. She spotted a full-length mirror at the back of their door. Her heart raced.

The last thing she though about before going through all this was about having a whole new world on the other side of the mirror.

She ran towards it. The girls inched away from her.

She stopped and stood in front of it. Everyone in the room screamed.

She had no reflection.


	2. Chapter 1

"Japan wanted to invade Southeast Asia because of many reasons..."

She rested her arms on her desk as she cupped her chin, her eyes were fighting to stay open. Her hearing began to be a little fuzzy. Instead of hearing her teacher's words, the lyrics from _Justin Timberlake- Mirrors _began to play in her head.

_Just ten minutes more... _Rin thought to herself to keep her awake.

She stifled yet another yawn. Why was she so tired? She made sure to have enough hours of sleep the previous night, and she woke up feeling fresh and wide awake that morning. The yawn got bigger and bigger so she let it escape her mouth, covering it. _Mirrors _was still playing in her head. She probably listened to it too much over the weekend...

_Ten minutes more..._

She plonked her head on her table and began to snooze. The sound of Mr. Shion's voice droning about World War II faded away. She did not think she feel tired because it was History; she liked it actually. However, her lethargic body got the better of her.

"Ms. Kagamine!"

She immediately jerked up, eyes fully opened. Her hands clasped by the sides of her textbook.

"Yes Mr. Shion?" she spoke alertly.

Mr. Shion tutted and shook his head deliberately.

"Can you tell us why Japan invaded Southeast Asia?" he asked her.

Rin blinked a few times and slowly replied, "Because... Southeast Asia was... Full of resources?"

"For example?"

"Uh... Raw materials?"

"Like?"

"Oil..." she finished off uncertainly.

Mr. Shion nodded in approval.

"Alright, you may sit," he told her, heading back to the whiteboard. "Please do stop falling asleep during class, although you tend to get all of my questions right somehow."

"Ahahahaha..." she laughed softly along with her classmates to ease the tension that only she shared.

Rin took her seat. She still felt drowsy.

A minute later, the school bell rang.

In unison, the class stood up to greet the teacher.

"Thank you Mr. Shion!" they chorused.

"Thank you class," he called out as he walked briskly out of the classroom, clutching his briefcase.

"I bet he's going off for an ice cream snack," SeeU mused as she made long strides towards Rin, her hand clutching onto the latest accessory item- the letter wallet.

"Nah, he's probably gonna trip over the stairs as he rushes to his next class," Teto said as she took two dollar notes out of her purse by her side.

"Haha, LOL," Rin laughed in response as she stretched upwards.

She leaned over to the table in front of her. Aoki Lapis, her best friend, was crouching over her desk writing some notes.

"Ready to go eat?" she asked Lapis.

"Mm," she mumbled and stood up.

Rin was considered short in her class, and Lapis only came up to her shoulder.

Teto and SeeU linked arms as they walked towards the canteen, talking about the latest trends they uncovered while they were shopping at Trolley Street. Rin and Lapis followed behind them silently, discussing on what they felt like eating.

They sat with their food at a round table minutes later and tucked in after queueing up at different food stalls. While they were eating, Rin still could not stop herself from yawning. Teto put down her forkful of spaghetti when she tried to hide a yawn for the fifth time.

"You okay, Rin?" she asked.

"Yeah," SeeU joined in as she put down her apple juice. "You keep yawning."

"I'm fine, really," she said positively.

Then she yawned again. Lapis looked at her in concern.

"Maybe you should go home and rest," she quietly suggested.

Rin shook her head.

"I'm _fine_ guys," she insisted.

She took a huge bite out of her chocolate danish to show them that she was alright. She secretly wondered if she looked that tired. She addressed SeeU.

"Hey, could you lend me your mirror please?"

SeeU dug into her skirt pocket.

"Hang on, school pockets are getting ridiculously big and long these days."

She finally felt the rectangular face-mirror and fished it out. She tossed it to Rin, who just caught it in between her index and middle finger.

"You can't be any more reckless, can you?" Rin commented, snapping it open.

"It wouldn't matter; you'll always catch it."

"If one day, I don't?"

"You'll pay."

She sighed and took a look at herself in the mirror, holding her pastry in her mouth.

Although the canteen was buzzing with people's chatter, the clattering of utensils, and the electronic sounds of mobile phones, Teto took her phone out and blasted _Mirrors _to full volume. Lapis cupped her ears.

"Don't, Teto..." she moaned, but her three friends started to sing along.

"Gosh, I love this song."

"You don't say!"

"I just like the meaning behind the song..." Rin piped up. "Imagine having someone always watching over you by your side!" she added, clasping her hands around the mirror in a fazed moment.

She received very strange stares from her friends. Lapis just looked at her interestingly seeing that she got used to these random outbursts after spending four years with her as a primary school friend. Teto gave her the 'corkscrew face' [her signature look] as she slowly sipped her Ribena. SeeU looked at her nails and told Rin not to break her mirror.

Speaking of having the mirror in the first place...

Rin stuffed her danish back into her mouth and opened it again. The mirror was just a face mirror; so she could only look at parts of her face at a time. She decided to look at her eyes first. She was glad she did not have any eye bags. In fact, her eyes were bright and clear. She did not look the least tired.

_That's good.. _She thought to herself in relief. Probably her friends were exaggerating about her appearance.

Just then, she saw something out of place in the mirror. How could it be...

She blinked a few times, then looked back into SeeU's mirror again.

She saw her eyes blink. Twice.

In alarm, she leaned back and swiped the mirror across the table quickly as though she was juggling fire with it. Her heart began to palpitate in astonishment. How did she see her eyes blink?

"What happened, Rin?" SeeU asked her quizzically, keeping the mirror well away from Rin's sight in her pocket. "You look as though you saw a ghost."

Teto sniggered.

Rin shook her head furiously such that it turned into a flurry yellow ball. That made Teto snigger harder.

"N-N-No! I'm alright..." Rin told SeeU. "I don't have any eye bags or whatever, so yeah, I'm happy."

"You actually do have a little shadow under your eyes though..." SeeU told Rin, scrutinizing her face intensely.

"Give her something to cover it up with," Teto suggested.

"Aha... I think I might have something for it!" SeeU exclaimed. "I just need to get my makeup kit. It's in class."

She swiftly stood up and grabbed her food tray.

"Come on Rin, allow me to fix you up!" she squealed.

Before Rin could properly react, SeeU tugged at her arm so she had to stand up and follow her, leaving Teto and Lapis behind as they were finishing their food. She hastily chewed her chocolate danish in her dry mouth and nearly gagged upon trying to swallow it. Whilst she was doing so, SeeU linked her arm with hers. It felt awkward to Rin, because it made her look like a little, immature girl next to SeeU.

They walked past a water cooler.

"Wait- I need a drink," Rin barely managed to say as her mouth was overwhelmed with flakes and chocolate.

She went over to the the water cooler and splashed some water in her mouth. She swallowed, tasting dank and cold water mixed with flakes of the danish, then returned back to SeeU. They walked up the stairs to their classroom.

As they went up the steps, Rin asked SeeU, "Where did you get that mirror?"

"Well..." SeeU began, tapping her finger thoughtfully as she tried to remember. "I'm sure I got it from one of the shops in Trolley Street."

"Where in Trolley Street?"

"I forgot..."

"What kind of shop was it?"

"An accessory shop, I think."

"Was it anything like a joke shop?"

"No, no, no. You don't find joke shops in Trolley Street."

"Okay... Then do you find anything peculiar about your mirror when you use it?"

"I dunno. Like?"

"Like being able to see your eyes blink."

"You can never see your own eyes blink. Unless you tape yourself doing it." amused SeeU

"Are you sure?"

"Positively sure. Why?"

"Oh, it's just because..."

"... Because?"

"I saw... my eyes blink in that mirror."

SeeU pulled a poker face. She stopped walking up and stood in front of Rin, arms akimbo.

"I don't think you're feeling alright today, Rinnie."

"I am!"

"I have never seen my own face mirror do weird things to me."

"But I really did see my eyes blink! Or I think they are my eyes..." Rin trailed off. "But I did!"

"You couldn't have saw your eyes blink."

"Okay, maybe not my eyes, but somebody else's eyes."

"There was nobody behind you, and my mirror is pretty tiny. You must have been imagining again, Rin."

"Oh-Oh okay!" Rin heaved in frustration, not bothered to press the issue with SeeU furthermore.

SeeU sighed, and grabbed her wrist.

"We better hurry, or else there's no time."

"We're not even suppose to put on makeup in school."

As Rin jogged alongside SeeU, her mind remained thinking about what she saw in the mirror.

She was sure of it; she saw someone's eyes blink in that mirror.


	3. Chapter 2

_Blink._

The next moment, the shadows that were under the eyes in the reflection vanished.

_Blink. _

He checked it again. Nothing else had changed. He heaved a pitiful sigh, snapping the face mirror shut.

"Here, thanks," Len said to USee, passing the pocket mirror back to him.

"No problem," USee replied, tucking it in his front shirt pocket. "Why do you always need it anyway?"

"I don't always need it."

"Yes you do; you keep asking me for it every day."

Len checked his watch. It was a nice blue Baby-G digital watch, but he did not like it. He would rather have an analogue clock than a digital one. It was 9.40AM.

He stood up and grabbed his empty can of Coke. Before he left the canteen and threw it away, he asked USee,

"Why _do_ you have a face mirror in the first place?"

He quickly jogged away, leaving USee to think about that. Chances were that he would never truly find out why. He tossed the can into the dustbin just next to the staircase and ran up to the top level where his classroom was. Once he was at the fourth level, he went to the toilet and sped straight to the mirror. He was greeted by his own reflection.

What was he thinking? He was not at the right place.

Len walked out of the toilet again, his hands in his pockets. As he went back to his classroom, he stopped in front of the girls' toilet. He had the urge to go in and check out the mirrors, but shook it off as an impossibility, thinking of the commotion that he would end up making.

So he had no other choice but to go and wait for the next lesson in his classroom. Math, he found it a bore to him.

He did not look anywhere else but his own desk situated at the corner of the classroom right next to the back door. His backpack slumped against his chair, looking limp. His History notes were still scattered all over his table with only his mechanical pencil [that had little lead left] on them to act as a weight. He recalled leaving his eraser on the table, too, but he did not know where it went. It was a brand new eraser, but he did not bother to go search for it in the crowded classroom.

He unceremoniously stuffed his loose sheets of hole-punched paper into his bag and fished out his Math homework. He lost the worksheet Mr. Nekomura gave them yesterday consisting of 20 questions of Algebra [which Len absolutely hated to the core] somehow.

Suddenly, a hand was placed on his table. It held his eraser.

"Why'd you take my eraser?" Len cursed, knowing who it was.

"I needed it, sorry," Ted replied, feeling the least sorry.

Len scowled, but Ted ignored him.

"Want to play basketball afterwards?" he asked Len.

"Afterwards? For how long?"

"Up to you."

Len stared at his useless digital watch and tried to count the number of hours without the aid of the circle of numbers in a typical analogue clock he had as free time before he had to be home.

How much time did he have from now to 5.15PM?

Just then, the school bell shrilled. Recess just ended.

He gave up.

"Just an hour then," he conjured to give Ted an answer.

"Okay. See you at the basketball court."

Ted went back to his seat, playfully tugging at USee's hair on the way.

"Ouch!" USee yelped like a puppy.

"I'm sorry."

"That hurts!"

"Like it doesn't."

Len just rolled his eyes at them. In his mind he thought, _one hour should be enough, right? _

He then decided he did not care, leaning back on his chair to look up the ceiling. The ceiling fan whirred noiselessly above him, shoving pleasant gusts of wind at his face which made his hair fly about. The class began to shuffle back to their seats; that sneaky Yuzuki guy must have alerted them that the teacher was coming.

True enough, he heard Ms. Sakine's- No- Ms. Meiko's high heels clicking loudly from outside. A strong urge to grab his stuff and get out of the classroom egged Len. He could, in a few seconds, stuff everything in his bag, drag his chair back, and walk out of the classroom. The moment Ms. Meiko stepped into the classroom, he would have to bend down below the windows by the side of the classroom and make a speedy runaway without making much noise. He would remain like this until he zoomed past the security guard out of the school's main gate. Or, if the principal happened to be there to greet any guests or whatever other reason, he would make a detour to the back of the school and climb over the wired fence, but he would have to immediately jump down three meters once he was at the top, or else the whole fence would crash down with him on it. It would probably be easier if he went by the main gate, but he got caught by the principal herself once, and he did not want that scene to replay ever again.

So if he did manage to run out of the school he could probably go home and pry more information out of Neru's 'workspace' or change into his own clothes and loiter around whichever shopping mall he fancied. When school ended, he would call Ted to meet him at a basketball court far, far away from school. Ted would probably have kept his homework for him but he would not bother doing them anyway. Except for Physics, maybe. There was so much more important things he had to do than school.

But he forced his body to stay in the classroom when Ms. Meiko walked in. Her hot-tempered state drawn all over her face proved him to have made the right decision to attend her lesson. But when it came to homework collection...

He was the only one to stand up when she called for those who have not done it.

"Kagamine Len," Ms. Meiko spoke slowly. "Again."

"Yeah."

His classmates looked at him behind their opened textbooks in both awe and annoyance.

Len maintained eye contact with the teacher's brown eyes.

"And why is that so?"

He was ready to reply, "I have important things to do at home."

Ms. Meiko sighed, drawing an invisible line down her cheek with her painted red fingernail.

"You keep reusing that excuse, Mr. Kagamine."

"But I really do have important things to do!" Len nearly yelled out in frustration.

Maybe he should have just made a run for it.

He kept his mouth sealed as Ms. Meiko glared at him; he felt his face grow cold. He begged to God that he would not get detention today because if he did, Rin would get it too.

To try to smoothen things down, he yabbered, "I'm really sorry, Ms. Meiko. I just have important things I need to attend to."

Ms. Meiko eyes him, deciding whether to let him off or not. He tried to put on an honest face.

Ms. Meiko just nodded relectantly and continued with her lesson.

Len had a strong feeling that Ms. Meiko was going to want to speak to him personally after school.

So the moment the school bell rang for the next lesson to come, Len made a dash for the toilet even though nature was not calling on him. He nearly bumped into Ms. Meiko, who was going to open her mouth to tell him to stay back and look for her after school. He made doubly sure to look like he really needed to go to the toilet to fool her enough.

He hung around for a minute and looked at himself in the mirror to see that it looked different. It looked as though his face was powdered furiously. He washed his face, but there was nothing there. He gave up, and then ran back to the classroom before their Social Studies teacher did.

* * *

Len was more than glad to leave the school compound when the final bell rang for the end of school. He shoved his English homework into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He checked his watch. It was 2.30PM.

Why did he even bother to check it when it was going to be like a white elephant anyway?

He walked over to Ted to wait for him to finish packing his stuff. Whilst he did so, he happened to walk past the 'Netballers' of his class. There were only four of them from the netball team. He sometimes watched the whole team have their intensive training which took place twice a week. He knew that two of his classmates were not on good terms with each other, so why were they together with their other two teammates?

He approached the one whom he thought was the most approachable of the four girls.

He spoke from behind Olivia, "Olivia, do you happen to have netball practice today?"

Olivia tilted her head towards the back and saw Len's sombre face. She made no comment, simply replying, "Yeah, kind of. We're having a meeting instead."

"How long is will it take?"

"I guess for about an hour or so, depends."

"Thanks."

He looked away from Olivia and caught Ted's eye from his desk. He pointed to the door with his thumb in question. Ted nodded and they both walked out of the classroom from where they were. What Len unintentionally overheard made him feel chilly and squirmy.

"Hmmm... I wonder why Len asked you that," Piku commented mockingly.

"Maybe... He wants to ask you out!" Yuka exclaimed, laughing evilly.

Len felt like choking with his saliva.

"Is it true, Len?" Ted asked him with a sly tone as they brisk-walked their way to the nearest basketball court in the neighbourhood, swinging the plastic bag containing his basketball.

"God, no. You should know," Len quivered, shaking off the thought of him holding hands with the girl who came from England.

Ted fished out the basketball and bounced it to Len, who dribbled it down the path.

"Maybe I _do_ know," He continued with that sly tone.

"Know what?"

"You know..."

Len decided not to press the issue further on.

"Augh- _just shut up_!" he spat in frustration.

He dropped his bag at the familiar bench and began to dribble the ball towards the hoop. He made a mental note to check the time until the '2' before the ':' turned into a '3' when he should get going.


	4. Chapter 3

_"Ooof!"_

_"Oops! Sorry! Are you okay Len? Do you hurt anywhere? Is it very painful?"_

_Len rubbed his aching back, pouting in pain. He did offer Rin a piggy back, but not by her pouncing on him from the top bunk of their bed!_

_Rin squatted down in front of Len. Her face wore worry and sadness._

_"Sorry Len," she whispered again._

_Len heaved, and shook his head, causing his hair to fluff up._

_"It's okay," he said not unkindly._

_She lifted up his fringe that was covering his eyes._

_"You're not crying, right?"_

_"No."_

_She sighed in relief._

_"Phewee-oo Len! Or else Auntie Akita will chew me up for sure!"_

_"I'm going to chew up something?"_

_There at the door stood Akita Neru who claimed to be their relative. Her long, unnatural yellow hair was tied at the side with a purple hair band and her face displayed a snide remark. She looked evil._

_To Len, it seemed._

_Rin, taking Akita's comment as a playful statement, yelped in costumed horror and hid behind Len._

_"Len, help me! Evil Auntie Akita has come to chew me to pieces!"_

_He just sat there, his legs still crossed, staring expressionlessly at Akita, reading her looks. Akita simply cackled evilly, bending down pretending to claw Rin from Len's back._

_"Aiyeeeee!"_

_Len just remained as he was, even when Neru successfully caught Rin and carried her in her arms, trying to control a squirmy and laughing Rin. She gazed at her momentarily, then looked at Len._

_"Come, Len. I need you two to help me with something," Akita asked Len, all the fun in her worn out._

_Out of curiosity, he asked, "What help?"_

_"Something to do with my work, I could say."_

_"Oh great! Will we get paid? I want to buy a huge, fluffy unicorn!" Rin exclaimed gleefully, bouncing up and down in Akita's arms._

_"It depends on how good you are," Akita replied to Rin in a bubbly tone._

_She walked out of the room._

_"Come, Len."_

_Len picked himself off the ground and toddled down the hallway, trailing a few feet behind Akita as they took the stairs that went down towards a door which neither of the toddlers have ever walked past._

_"We're going downstairs?" Len ogled._

_"We've never been downstairs before! Cool!" Rin squealed, clapping her hands. _

-Flash-

_Len was strapped to a metallic board. His body was trapped to it by strong and sturdy metal claws. His head was also kept in place with an egg-like cover which was also made of metal, just obscuring his forehead, leaving his eyes free to see. However, plugs were planted deep into his ears so he could hear nothing else than the sound of his heartbeat. Although the metal binds were not cutting into his skin, he could not move at all, no matter how hard he tried to. _

_He could only move his head slightly to either left or right. At the corner of his right eye, there were flashes of light. He strained his neck to the right as much as possible and saw Rin a few metres away from him, strapped up by the same barriers. Bright, white-yellow blazes of thunder danced all around her, lightly jumping up and down from place to place. The light was so bright that Len had to squint his eyes until only little crack between his eyelids would suffice._

_He saw Rin lying down on the board. Her pupils were dilated and nearly __colorless, with a tiny tinge of sky blue left in them. Her mouth was slightly agape, it was as though she was slowly sucking in the air. Her lips were colourless and her body showed no signs of struggling._

_"Rin? _Rin!_"_

_Len began to thrash about and shout her name even though she probably could not hear him. He used every ounce of his strength to try breaking the metallic things that were keeping him there, immobile and stuck. All were to no avail. This could not do._

_He tried to kick, but he ended up burning this legs. He balled his hands into fists and tried to push his arms out, but he scalded them. He immediately shut his eyes and tried to pop his ears to push the plugs out, but that just made his ear drums ring and slowly die off._

_Just then, the light flashing all over Rin frizzled and faded. Rin's eyes were closed then. She looked very dead. Her skin had become unnaturally white. Len choked. He felt tears began to form in his eyes._

_"R-R-Rin?" He blubbered as his vision clouded with tears._

_"It's okay, Len. Relax and close your eyes," Akita's voice flowed to him. _

_It was not okay._

_"It is a pity to have let Rin go when she is has only lived her first four years with you."_

_The words were becoming slower and softer by the second._

_"But not to worry. I shall remove those memories, and you two shall-"_

* * *

"-Meet again," Len softly finished. He never remembered Neru say the last before, but he was sure she said those.

He was in the public bus on his way home, drenched with sweat feeling very hot. Had he not made a sprint for it he would have missed his ride home. He checked his watch. 3.46PM.

His fingers scrambled to adjust the direction of cool wind blowing out from the mini fan on top of him. He pinched his shirt and pulled it back and forth to create more wind. He did not feel very comfortable then. He just wanted to punch Ted for suggesting a long basketball match against the neighbourhood kids that ate into his time. Len had just ran out of court and grabbed his bag when he realized he was a tad late.

As nobody else sat at the back row, he freely dumped his bag on the seat next to him and slumped back in a slaggy manner. He checked his watch again. 3.46PM. It felt like 346 hours.

When the bus did stop at his stop, he quickly tapped his travel card out and jumped off it. He made a slow and quiet jog towards the door of his home, eyes scanning the shoe rack. He did not see Neru's shoes. That meant he had the whole house to himself.

He dug into his school pocket for the key and slot it into the lock, turning it anti-clockwise four times. He kicked off his shoes at the door and shut it, not bothered to put them neatly onto the rack. He slung his bag onto a hook on the wall next to it and retired to the kitchen for a drink. While his hand was in the fridge, his eyes were trained on the analogue clock on the kitchen wall. The longer hand was on '12' while the shorter one was on '4'. He counted the numbers in between '12' and '6'. Every number he counted counted as a few minutes. So he sussed out he had another half an hour before Rin should be home from netball.

He never looked at the fridge when he took out a bottle of soft drink, swung the door shut, and went up the stairs, fingers twisting the cap of Coke, which he wanted, open.

He walked into his room and shut all windows and the door. His index finger automatically pressed the button to the air conditioner and adjusted it to 18 degrees. The first thing he did was open his wardrobe door where there was a full-length mirror behind it. He checked the reflection. He could only see himself. He would have to wait.

He sat cross-legged on the floor just in front of the mirror and drank his Coke until it was half empty. Then he slapped the cap back on and plonked it next to him noisily. His right hand rummaged in the pile of stuff he stuffed into the wardrobe for his PSP to play a game that would take a long time to complete. Looking at the mirror one more time, he wiped off a smudge he left that morning.

* * *

Rin ran non-stop with whatever energy she had in her to the home, her heart beating fast and hard as if to cheer her on. It was 3:46PM- she only had a grace period of 14 minutes to go before the doors go _clang! boom! click. _before her. 1600 metres, she could make it!

As her school shoes slapped against the pavement, Rin could not help but imagine a stern Matron Megurine standing between two huge doors that cold weigh a ton each when she was just twenty feet away, pulling them inwards, locking Rin out of the home.

"Why are you late, Kagamine Rin?" she would sneer, when there was just a little crack left. "I'm not going to let you in, no! Not for children who refuse to follow curfews!"

Rin would pant and do all that she could to pick up even more speed in order to let at least her pinkie go through the gap. With a leap, she hurled herself towards the door...

"4:02PM," Luka sighed as Rin stopped by the porch steps, hands on her knees as she leaned forward, breathing in and out rapidly. "Better than the previous time you had netball, Rin."

Luka turned the door knob open and let Rin stumble past it. Then she stepped in and closed the door after her. Rin dropped her bag onto the floor and headed straight for the kitchen to get a glass of icy, cold water. She was still wearing her shoes, the soles full of dust and a patch of mud.

"Rin!" Luka chided. "Your shoes are messing up the floor!"

"I'll clean up afterwards-"

"I rather you go to your room while _I _better do the cleaning up."

"I can man-"

"You won't manage- you don't know how to behave in a kitchen." Luka ended, sighing as she thought about that particular morning when she woke up later than usual and saw Rin trying to cook pancakes in the kitchen.

* * *

_"I am feeling hungry, so I decided to prepare breakfast for myself and everybody too," Rin spoke uneasily as she sifted the blackened contents in the only pan they had at the time at 6AM in the morning._

_She sat on the tall stool Luka used whenever she surfed online shopping sites for furniture. Luka could see droplets of dough splattered all over the stove, together with a puddle of milk and broken egg shells. The fire was off, thankfully, but the pan was gone._

_"Oh Rin..." Luka sighed, taking the pan away from Rin and carrying her away from the mess. She placed Rin on a dining chair and tied her hair up in a bun, yawning._

_As she scrubbed hard at the black crust super-glued to the base of the pan, Rin called out in a small voice, "Sorry, Luka. I really didn't mean to mess up the kitchen."_

_"It's okay... Just don't do it without me letting you anymore," Luka told Rin forgivingly._

_"Okay," Rin said, a bit more cheery. "Because I saw you making pancakes for breakfast and I thought they were easy to make. Well, except for pouring the milk because I am still not strong enough to hold it off the table. And then I imagined I was you while I was doing it because, well, I can't really see myself do it. That helped me a bit because I couldn't stop thinking about my stomach grumbling and growling and roaring."_

_"I see..." Luka replied half-heartedly as she placed the untouched pan aside to throw away later. "How did you manage to turn the fire on?"_

_"I used that gun you used that blasts nothing but can still make fire appear, but I think it ran out of bullets after I used it so I loaded it with matchsticks and kept it back into the drawer."_

_Luka felt like tearing up and laughing. She composed herself as she checked the drawer for that 'gun' she used to start fires. True enough, she could see the butt of a matchstick sticking out of it._

_"I'm not sure if I did it right because I never saw you load the gun before," Rin continued to talk as Luka silently pushed the drawer back in._

_"How did you know it was broken?" Luka simply asked._

_"Because when I pointed it to the air there was no fire."_

_Luka could only say, "Ah."_

_She needed to do some online shopping._

* * *

"That was when I was six," Rin groaned as she went to get the mop. "I'm thirteen, nearing fourteen. I'll handle it fine."

"I still rather you go up to your room," Luka repeated.

Rin's eyes drooped in displeasure as she passed the mop to Luka. She untied her shoelaces at the door and placed them in a corner of the shoe rack, far away from the other pairs of footwear. She took her drink and her bag up to her own room, having to walk past all the other rooms.

She did not walk noisily, but the door to her left opened and a head popped out.

"Hullo, Oliver," Rin greeted the boy.

"Hullo, you're all sweaty," Oliver greeted back. "I thought you were Miku or Yuma." Oliver added.

"I'm not, fortunately," Rin said curtly. "Why them?"

"Because neither of them are back yet. They should have taken the school bus back with me and Gumi, but they didn't. So they probably missed it."

"Oh, that's great." Rin said evilly, walking straight ahead.

She walked past the next door on her right and stopped at the door at the end of the hallway- it was her room. Her _own _room. Only she had a room to herself apart from the other orphans in the house.

The first thing she saw when she stepped into her room was a package on the floor.

"Oh! Another package!" Rin chirped eagerly as she grabbed a penknife on her desk table and sat down on the floor.

Before she did, she dropped her penknife and picked up the parcel with two hands, examining it on all sides. There was no address attached to it; like all the previous packages she had been receiving ever since she stepped into this house for the first time. She sighed.

The box was light and small, but she had no idea what it contained. Using the tip of the dagger, Rin efficiently sliced the seam open and opened the flaps. Much to her surprise, it was a bottle of a cleaning detergent and a packet of cotton swabs. Did she need this?

Rin picked up the spray bottle and read the label- she could only use it on windows and anything else made of glass.

"Maybe Luka wants me to help with the chores and hence got me this, huh Orange?" Rin mused, talking to a stuffed Orange on her bed. It was in one of the many packages she received and she loved it to bits, even giving it a name which lasted for four years. It lounged limply on her pillow.

Not sure where she should keep her new items, she placed them on the table first and shoved the box to near the door to bring it down later. She also left her drink on the table next to them as she walked towards her wardrobe to get a fresh set of clothes, humming _Mirrors_. She longed for a nice, cold, shower after making that 1600 metres run from school. It was the perfect time to do so too, when Miku was not around to hog the bathroom for who-knows-how-long.

She swung open the door and searched through her clothes for something comfortable when she heard a voice to her left.

"Hey."

"_Wha-a?!_" Rin hooted as she jumped up, the hairs on her neck on their ends.

She looked at her door and saw that it was absolutely closed. She turned to check the window but there was no one there. She was about to walk towards it to see if Oliver was at one of his pranks again when she heard the voice again.

"Here!"

And it was _just next to her_. Only the door of the wardrobe was next to her, so how could it talk? Rin shook her head. Her imagination must be running loose again.

Even so, she looked at the mirror pasted on the door. She immediately realised she could not see herself. She could see the wall right through her- but she did open both doors! How could that be possible?

Rin blinked twice, then heard someone clicking their tongue that came from below. Slowly, her head tilted down to see...

"_What the heck!?_" Rin yelped as she stumbled back.

In a fluster, she clasped the handles of her wardrobe doors and banged them shut very loudly.

_BOOM BOOm BOom Boom boom... _

She took as many steps as she could count away from her wardrobe until her back bumped into the wall opposite.

Actually, her room could not have echoes. She was imagining things again, she must be.

Well, she had to be. Like, she just saw a boy sitting on the floor playing a PSP in her mirror.

Her mirror never did anything of that sort before.

Then she felt hot and flustered. A midst the shock, she did not get any clothes out from the wardrobe. Very cautiously, Rin tiptoed back to her wardrobe, quietly opened the door that did not have the mirror behind, grabbed the first hanger her fingers touched, quickly slammed the door shut and made a beeline out of her room downstairs to the bathroom.

_Was I seeing things? _Rin thought frantically to herself as she absentmindedly let freezing cold water cascade down like a mini waterfall.

_I must be. I do this all the time without knowing it._

_My mirror can't be jinxed; I've been using it for years ever since it came in a package..._

_Or did the sender do something to it?_

_It did mysteriously become full of scratches and smudges over the years..._

_But... _

_I'll check the mirror again._

Rin turned the tap off, then conscious how much her body was shaking from the cold water. She dried herself with her towel and put on her pajamas, wringing her hair dry as she walked back up the stairs.

"_Rin Kagamine!_"

"Sorry, Luka! I'll wipe it-"

"_Just go to your room!_"

"Sigh... Really, Rin. What's in your head today?" Luka muttered to herself as she had to get the mop out again to dry the floor. "And the two kids aren't back yet... Just what are they up to? Always coming back way too late..."

Back in Rin's room, she did not check the mirror. Instead, she found herself falling onto her bed and dozing off, hoping to wake up to find things back to normal afterwards.

* * *

"And I was so close..." Len muttered to himself, chin on his cupped hands doing absolutely nothing else but staring at the mirror. He could only see himself in it.

He yawned. He tried to keep his eyes open but a huge wave of drowsiness hit him hard.


End file.
